The experience of luxury brands like Tiffany & Co and Burberry suggest otherwise: social and mobile marketing have paid enormous dividends for both of those brands, so why the apparent contradiction?  In a white paper – The Luxury Marketing Myth: Exclusivity is critical to maintaining luxury’s allure – Pam Danziger explains that the tight coupling between luxury and exclusivity is “an old-European myth.” For younger, more democratic luxury consumers, “exclusivity” has negative connotations of snobbery and manufactured scarcity. Exclusivity for its own sake is not what the growing market of young luxury consumers value. What they prefer, according to Danziger, is “an exclusiveness derived from the ability to express a personal point of view, an attitude and one’s uniqueness.”

The luxury brands that have been most successful in their use of social and mobile media marketing have recognised the importance of the “new exclusivity” and have build their digital presence around their customers’ strong emotional connections to – and identification with – that brand.

Tiffany & Co realised that their customers want Tiffany products to be part of their happiest moments, like weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and parenthood.   Recognising that there is an opportunity to deepen that connection, Tiffany launched their Engagement Ring finder iPhone app. This application allows users to virtually “try on” Tiffany engagement rings. More importantly, in terms of deepening that sense of personal expression, the app allows users to share the rings that they are interested in with friends and to ask for their opinions. Tiffany & Co has become part of the conversation that their customers are having with their closest friends and family about a major life event. That’s a very privileged position to be in.

But does it work? Tiffany & Co saw a 20% increase in their sales as a result of their digital media operations, and they are proud of the ROI that they have achieved from this campaign. Burberry, too, have been very open about the impact that digital marketing has had on their bottom line. In an announcement that accompanied their Q1&2 results for 2011, Angela Ahrendts, the company’s CEO, said, “Burberry has delivered a strong first half, reflecting our continued investment in innovative design, digital marketing and retail strategies.” The company now commits 60% of its promotional budget to digital advertising, and has seen their revenue rise by 29% as a result. This shift includes a near-doubling of perfume sales due to one Facebook promotion alone.

Luxury shoppers are the most frequent users of social media. Households with incomes of over $100,000 spend the greatest proportion of their web browsing time on social networks, spending 39% of their time on Facebook (as opposed to an average of around 30% for lower income groups). The under-thirty-fives in social groups AB are much more likely to spend time on social networks than their counterparts in other social bands, and internet availability rises with social class, with internet penetration among ABs at 95%, compared to 92% for C1s, 84% for C2s and just 68% for DEs.

While expenditure on luxury goods online is growing across the board, it’s the young, digital-native shoppers that are responsible for the largest upswing in full-price, online luxury shopping. Generation Y shoppers (18-34 year olds) spent 31% more on luxury goods in 2011 than they did in 2010. Generation X shoppers increased their expenditure by 23%, while Boomers and Seniors only spent 19% and 6% more on average.

Both shoppers and the luxury brands that they want to connect with are increasingly present on digital media. While 68% of shoppers go directly to a brand’s website, 45% want to look for independent reviews and 13% go to social media sites to research their purchases.  Luxury brands are responding to that need, with 69% of all luxury brands having a Facebook presence, 46% of all luxury brands having a Twitter account and 34% offering a mobile application.

Mobile channels are also increasingly important to wealthy consumers.  Among the Business Elite, that is: individuals in the >$500,000 income bracket,  4/5 own a smartphone and 1/3 own a tablet. In the UK, households earning over £75,000 are nearly three times more likely to own a tablet as those earning less than £75,000. Already, 14% of luxury shoppers use their smartphones to browse luxury brands’ mobile content before committing to a purchase.

Post-purchase interactions are very important to luxury shoppers. Luxury purchases are a way of asserting identity and individuality, and as such, many luxury consumers choose to announce their purchases on social media platforms. When they choose to discuss their purchases online, 60% use Facebook, 17% use Twitter, 7% use their blogs and 16% use other social channels.

Mercedes-Benz has capitalised on their customers’ desire to express their identity as a Mercedes driver by setting up their own “Generation Benz” social network, which brings together young Mercedes owners in an online setting that reflects their lifestyle and identity. This deepens the connection between the buyer and the brand (they don’t just own a Mercedes, they are “Mercedes people”) and creates loyal brand ambassadors.

Kay Hammond, CEO of multi-award-winning social media marketing agency TAMBA, says that luxury brands should embrace the opportunities that social and mobile platforms afford. “The fastest-growing market for full-price luxury goods is the under 35, digital native sector. These shoppers relate to their luxury purchases on an emotional, highly personal, level. Used well, social and mobile media can deepen and strengthen those relationships.”

Kay’s takeaways are as follows:

1) Recognise that notions of “exclusivity” are changing. Young luxury shoppers are more concerned with brands that reflect their personality, values and identity over the notion of rarity. It’s safe to reach out to these potential new markets. Inviting them to become “your people” won’t dilute your brand.

2) Aspirations are about emotion, rather than ownership. Online luxury shoppers aren’t just looking to own something expensive. The latest generation of luxury shoppers is faced with a wide range of “big ticket” items that they could choose to celebrate their success and major life events. What consumers really want is something that reflects their personality.

3) Social media and mobile media are all about personal connections. The Tiffany & Co engagement ring finder is a perfect example of this effect in action. The app plays the part of a trusted advisor, and also becomes an important part of users’ social networks as they discuss their planned engagement.  Tiffany & Co have managed to develop a privileged relationship with their customers through the app, as they become a participant in their customers’ conversations about possibly the most important piece of jewelry they will ever choose.

4) The pool of social and mobile media users overlaps directly with the luxury consumer sector. The first generation of social media users has grown up and become more affluent. They have also become the fastest-growing group of luxury goods consumers. The wealthiest of these consumers are also the ones that are most likely to spend their time on social networks, and are more likely to own mobile browsing devices. These consumers spend most of their time connected to social and mobile networks, which makes the digital realm the best place to reach them.

Kay Hammond is the CEO of TAMBA, a multi-award-winning social media, viral and digital marketing agency in London and Staffordshire. Kay was named Engineering / Technology Woman of the Year 2011 in the Network of Aspiring Women Awards, a prestigious awards scheme for women in business. TAMBA was awarded Social Media Agency of the Year 2011 at the COGS Awards, a joint scheme between the Institute of Promotional Marketing and Promotional Marketing Magazine.

Content is free to syndicate however please credit us and link to http://www.tamba.co.uk/blog/why-luxury-brands-should-embrace-social-media-tamba-kay-hammond as the source.

This is a fantastic opportunity with one of the Midlands most productive agencies. There is a structured career path with an opportunity for the right person to play a part in our creative direction and be at the beginning of an exciting growth phase – and be rewarded for it!

Requirements:

• Ideally, you will have at least 5 years agency experience
• You are able to demonstrate a mastering of at least four of the following packages with at least one being either Photoshop or Illustrator; Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, After Effects, Premier and InDesign
• You can demonstrate a strong traditional design capability, ideally backed up with an extensive portfolio
• You have experience in cross media design. Online, mobile essential. Experience of designing for games and/or social media a bonus.
• You will need to have the ability to help guide the creative process and give advice and mentoring to more junior team members.

You’ll be hungry to win awards, and may well have several already tucked under your belt. You’ll be confident in front of clients and happy to pitch your ideas to the boards of some of the world’s biggest brands.

The interview process

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a one day creative task to gauge suitability for the role. This will be based at the BURNTWOOD HQ. Please make sure you are able to meet this criteria before applying for this role.

All candidates wishing to apply for this role should submit their CV to info@tamba.co.uk.

STRICTLY NO AGENCIES PLEASE.

After the longest wait – Best app / game was one of the last categories to be announced – we were overjoyed to pick up a Silver award for Happy Days, our second award for the campaign in the last few months.

The Happy Days viral game, which recently won a Travel Marketing Award, has now been played over 2.3 million times and continues to charm a family audience with more and more viral spread as time goes on.

The win comes in a week where Butlin’s have again retained us to provide some very exciting marketing activity so we’ll be sharing that in the next couple of months.

The Pinterest Model
Pinterest has a very simple model: it allows users to “pin” pictures to “pin boards” that they curate. Pinterest’s killer feature is its simplicity: people using Pinterest for the first time (“pinners”) have a very shallow learning curve to negotiate. Once they’ve mastered the art of pinning, Pinterest users tend to be loyal, with 20 percent of Facebook users visiting Pinterest every day, and user retention over one and three months is higher than for any other social network at this point after its launch.

Pinterest has a visually appealing interface that allows users to showcase their creativity, lifestyle and inspirations.

Pinners are overwhelmingly women: only 28 percent of Pinterest users are men, but the gap is closing month-on-month. Pinterest users tend to be fairly affluent with an income range of $25,000-75,000, and are in youth to young middle age. Most Pinterest users are interested in interior design, travel, food and drink and other lifestyle interests, and the number of unique visitors to Pinterest has more than doubled in the last two months, with over 4 million unique users visiting the site each day.

The evolution of Pinterest

That stratospheric growth is part of the reason for the Pinterest buzz. No other social network has grown this rapidly, and in the 24 months since its launch in 2010 Pinterest has broken all sorts of records. In March 2012 it served up 2.3 billion page impressions to over 4 million unique visitors a day. It also retained users far more effectively than Twitter at this point in its evolution, with one and three-month retention rates (the number of users still regularly using the site one and three months after they first signed up) that are far higher than Twitter or Facebook, two years in. Most importantly, from a social marketing perspective, Pinterest is delivering high-quality referrals to online retailers.

Pinterest is now responsible for 17 percent of all social media driven ecommerce revenue on the Web, eclipsing Twitter’s 1 percent share. According to a study by Venturebeat, Pinterest will soon account for 40 percent of all social media driven purchases, while Facebook’s share is likely to fall from 80 percent to 60 percent.

While the Pinterest demographic is still strongly influenced by the make-up of its early adopters – young, professional women in the Midwestern United States with an interest in interior décor, design, travel, and food and drink, the user base is becoming more diverse. Pinterest users are also keen consumers, particularly of fashion, design, interior decorating and lifestyle-related products and services. A link from Pinterest prompts users to spend more often, and to spend more money, with the average Pinterest user being 10% more likely to complete a purchase, and spending 10% more than their non-Pinterest counterparts.

When we analyse the value of Pinterest referrals we can see that it already dominates the social marketing customer value chain. According to the latest research by Venturebeat, the value of a first touch referral from Pinterest was 18 cents (compared to Facebook’s 14 cents and Twitter’s 4 cents). When we look at the value of multi-touch referrals, Pinterest generates 45 cents of revenue per referral to Facebook’s 40 cents and Twitter’s 24 cents. Pinterest users are keen and well-informed consumers of high-quality lifestyle and design products, which makes them a highly lucrative market to capture.

Be a magazine, not a brochure

Pinterest’s aesthetics-led user experience doesn’t feel like a shopping mall. On Pinterest, visual content is king, and companies use it as a shop window at their peril. Recent research showed that users were far less likely to repin content from supplier sites if that content had a price flash, although they were slightly more likely to share a pin if another user had added the price details.

Considered in the spirit of the Pinterest ethos, which is about sharing interests and inspiration, this makes perfect sense. A friend who points out a bargain is appreciated, whereas a vendor hawking their wares is not. Of the top 100 influential pinners (as measured by Pinreach) 84 are individuals and blogs, five are print magazines and 11 are other businesses. Although the reach of business on Pinterest is growing, Pinterest business users are learning that they have to adapt to the Pinterest mindset to succeed.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that print magazines are making such an impact on Pinterest – after all, they are a natural fit when it comes to creating a mix of value-added content and retail space. Better Homes and Gardens has over 50,000 followers and its content has been shared (or “repinned”) over 80,000 times. The magazine’s Pinterest site pulls together home décor, gardening, craft and baking ideas in a format that Better Homes and Gardens readers (and more importantly, future readers) can add to their own pin boards with a simple click. Every time a user re-pins one of Better Homes and Gardens’ pins, the BHG brand is propagated across the network.

Better Homes and Gardens also have a neat “reach-in” strategy that complements the reach-out strategy of providing repinnable content. Every month, the editorial team picks one of their followers who they think provides high quality content on their boards and chooses them to be their “pinner of the month.” This has two effects: Better Homes and Gardens receives ready-made content from its users. It also encourages the kind of users who follow Better Homes and Gardens to create impressive pin-boards. Without ever overtly suggesting as much, Better Homes and Gardens is encouraging its followers to become better BHG Brand ambassadors.

Wholefoods is another brand that pursues a “lifestyle identity” – connecting with shoppers who enjoy cooking, gardening and sustainability. They use their Pinterest boards to showcase content from their customers, creating a sense of connection with the Wholefoods brand.

The way that Honda has decided to use Pinterest has a smart twist. Rather than waiting for users to come to them, they’ve created a print and media campaign to drive potential Honda buyers to their Pinterest site with the clever “Pintermission” campaign.

The campaign shows that Honda understands the drive of keen pinners to keep sharing the things that inspire them. By apparently subverting the Pinterest trend, they are actually ensuring that their content is repinned by users who recognise themselves in the campaign. This has the potential to create a powerful bond between the brand and Pinterest users.

Honda is also offering the most influential pinners $500 to take a Honda-sponsored Pintermission – using the money to spend a day doing some of the things that they’ve been pinning about. Honda has bought itself some high value for money exposure by spanning the online/offline divide.

It’s not just big brands who are carrying out guerrilla marketing techniques. Designer Chrissy Jensen, owner of Domestica, is a keen pinner “The way [that I use Pinterest] has really changed over the last year. At first, it was just a clever way to clean up my desktop. Then my friends and I started a board just to share things with each other and then I think the full scope of Pinterest’s value set in,” she says. “I tend to use it as a community… I don’t tend to pin our wares so much. I see boards dedicated to people’s creations or their Etsy store stock, but I worry that it’s too one-dimensional – it doesn’t tell a very rounded story about me or who I am.” The personalisation of the Domestica brand comes naturally to these Pinterest-native entrepreneurs, who understand the importance of the human connection that Pinterest can create.

Getting the best out of Pinterest

The most successful brands on Pinterest have really understood the importance of building up a human connection with their customer base. They have worked hard to understand why users value Pinterest, and to align their Pinterest presence with that value proposition: whether it be a large brand that is prepared to sponsor people to make their Pinterest dreams a reality, or a small startup using the site to create a global identity, they know that people value Pinterest as a place to find inspiration.

Kay Hammond, CEO of multi-award-winning social media marketing agency TAMBA, has the following advice for big brands:

1) Be a magazine, not a brochure!
As research shows, Pinterest users are more than twice as likely to repin your products if you don’t lead with the price. A successful Pinterest presence will highlight features, lifestyle and aspirations first and foremost. This approach demonstrably results in higher-quality customer referrals.

2) Share and share alike
Eighty percent of the content on Pinterest is “repinned” – that is, something that has been copied from one board to another, rather than something that has been newly uploaded. Your main aim on Pinterest should not be to protect your intellectual property. Rather, it should be to have your content shared as widely as possible.

It takes significant investment to create content that has sufficient value to promote wide-scale repinning. You have to understand your audience well enough to know what they want on their boards. It has to be novel, appealing and congruous with their Pinterest identity.

You should also cultivate a core audience of users that you can share from. One of the beauties of Pinterest is that not all of the content you pin has to be unique. Again, it takes a certain amount of skill to cultivate a stable of pinners whose ethos and identity coincides closely enough with your own, and you need a strong Pinterest editorial team who can build a two-way relationship with the right influential pinners for your brand.

3) Use Pinterest’s new features to create a look and feel that reflects your brand
Pinterest is still evolving at a dizzying speed. In recent weeks they have rolled out the ability to choose custom covers for pin boards and the ability to share video. It can be a full-time job keeping up with the site’s ever-improving feature set. However, savvy Pinterest users ensure that they make the most out of every customisable aspect of the Pinterest experience, from their profile picture and blurb to the layout of their boards, to create a look and feel that truly reflects their brand.

4 ) Create “sharing moments” with your brand’s Pinterest followers
Interaction is key – you want to encourage your followers to share your content on their boards and you may benefit from highlighting their content on your account. Several big brands use clever promotional hooks, like asking customers to pin “action shots” of themselves with a product. These images are then ripe for repinning, as a way of showing off both your products and your satisfied customers.

5) As with all social media – be a good conversationalist
Build a two-way relationship with your client-base on Pinterest – treat it more like a focus group than a billboard. Jay Baer from Monetate.com estimates that users are 10 times more likely to pin things that they want versus things that they own so you can garner valuable insight into your potential customers’ dreams, wants and needs than you would through any customer survey.

Where next for Pinterest

Pinterest is continuing to roll out new user features as the site evolves. They’re also continuing to put on user numbers at an unprecedented rate. That user base is also becoming more balanced in terms of the gender split as more men join Pinterest. Ongoing research will tell us what these new users want from the service, but early indications suggest that Pinterest users are likely to remain relatively affluent and lifestyle-focused.

New social networks will continue to emerge over the coming months: the rate for social startups is estimated to be something like two a month at the present time, but horizon-scanning studies aren’t picking up any serious Pinterest competitors yet. All projections suggest that Pinterest will continue to lead the pack in social marketing throughout 2012.

The last word should go to Pinterest co-founder Paul Sciarra: “What strikes me most is the passion of the folks that use Pinterest,” he says. “This passion reflects, I think, something that we’ve always believed as a company. That is, that the best internet services aren’t just ways for people to escape their everyday lives. Instead, those services with longevity –- with real “legs” –- enhance folks’ day-to-day experiences, deepen their relationships, and show them things about themselves they didn’t know before.”

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Kay Hammond is the CEO of TAMBA, a multi-award-winning social media, viral and digital marketing agency in London and Staffordshire. Kay was named Engineering / Technology Woman of the Year 2011 in the Network of Aspiring Women Awards, a prestigious awards scheme for women in business. TAMBA was awarded Social Media Agency of the Year 2011 at the COGS Awards, a joint scheme between the Institute of Promotional Marketing and Promotional Marketing Magazine.

Content is free to syndicate however please credit us and link to http://www.tamba.co.uk/blog/loyal-customers-who-spend-more-invest-in-pinterest-tamba-kay-hammond as the source.

The successful candidate must have at least 2-3 years experience as a project manager/producer within a digital agency environment. You will have a solid awareness of web, mobile and social media at large (i.e not just Twitter and Facebook). This role requires strong understanding of digital marketing and communications, insight into changing consumer behaviours and the ability to identify and capitalise on future key technology trends will be key.

You will be able to demonstrate excellent time and project management skills and you should be adept at using software such as MS Project, Basecamp and/or other industry standard systems. A relevant recognised qualification such as Prince2 or other agile methodologies is also preferable.

You will be experienced working across multiple projects and campaigns for large, brand name clients. You must be confident in bridging the gap between client and the design/development teams to ensure budgets and deadlines are met.

You will be the sole project manager for a number of projects, so should be highly competent and a self-starter.

Studio management experience preferred as this is one of our more senior studio roles and you will be a natural leader, motivator and organiser.

Your responsibilities include:-
• Understand our clients’ businesses and sectors and the context of their project.

• Assist with the response to client briefs with outline approach, liaising with creative and development teams to ensure accurate costs and timescales for delivery.

• Attending and leading post sales client planning/scoping meetings

• Capture requirements and respond with the best possible solution

• Creating project site maps
• Planning and writing the technical specifications of projects

• Diagram designs, including process flows, user journeys and functional logics

• Gantt chart production and resource allocation

• Ability to manage clients seeking to scope change projects during the development cycle
• Manage client relationships profitably to minimise non-billable work and maximise invoicing potential

• Manage planning and scoping around third party API integrations

• Identify potential partners to fulfil specialist digital projects where the in-house stills are unable to deliver on requirements

• Managing, motivating and mentoring the designers and developers in your team

To apply, please email info@tamba.co.uk including your CV and at least 3 key projects you’ve been heavily involved in within a producer/PM capacity.

STRICTLY NO AGENCIES

With this in mind, I wanted to share my shortlist as it may offer some resources useful for others. Social media is NOT just Facebook and Twitter so the resources I read, also share a lot of niche or international social network news.

Here’s my list:

1. Mediabistro – www.mediabistro.com / @mediabistro
2. Social Media Influence – www.socialmediainfluence.com / @socialinfluence
3. Mashable – www.mashable.com / @mashsocialmedia
4. Clickz.com – www.clickz.com / @clickz
5. Social Media Today – www.socialmediatoday.com / @socialmedia2day

I hope I might have introduced you here to one or two resources that might be new, and useful to you. What are your favourite social media resources? Share yours by commenting here or tweeting me @thisisTAMBA.

—

Kay Hammond is the CEO of TAMBA, a multi-award-winning social media, viral and digital marketing agency in London and Staffordshire. Kay was named Engineering / Technology Woman of the Year 2011 in the Network of Aspiring Women Awards, a prestigious awards scheme for women in business.

Content is free to syndicate however please credit us and link to this article as the source.

Academy Island is a free educational game aimed at English language learners. It’s available from the University of Cambridge ESOL Examination’s (Cambridge ESOL) official Facebook page – which currently has over 120,000 fans.

Players of Academy Island progress through different difficulty levels by helping the alien use English in a range of situations such as shopping in a bakery and visiting places such as an art gallery and library.

“Educational computer games can be a really good way of exposing learners to the English language and this has been the driving force behind Academy Island,” explains Cambridge ESOL’s Digital Manager Lorna Pedersen. She continues “We’ve worked with experts to create an environment which encourages learners to improve their key language skills in a progressive but fun way.”

A team of language experts from Cambridge ESOL who work on the actual exam papers came up with the questions and tasks to ensure they were pitched at an appropriate level for learners of English. They worked closely with TAMBA – an award-winning digital marketing agency who specialise in social media games. Players who take on the Academy Island challenge can post their scores on a global leader board through their Facebook profile.

Kay Hammond, CEO of TAMBA, said: “We were delighted to win this brief as edugaming is often overlooked. Gamifying the learning experience increases emotional investment, helping the player acquire knowledge almost subconsciously through interaction with the game environment”.

Try the game for yourself here.

We’ve dropped Internet from our name and are now just TAMBA, and we’ve let the brand “grow up” as we reach an amazing 15 years in business (longer if you count before we were a limited company!). Having come from humble roots as a web design firm, we’ve now grown into a multi-disciplinary agency with specialisms in online gaming, social media marketing and mobile app development. Our clients have evolved with us and we now count some recognisable brands and famous names amongst our customer base; from Dell, Carphone Warehouse, Reckitt Benckiser and Butlins, to Kylie Minogue and the Sugababes.

From a single director in the 90′s to a team of four executive directors and a further two non-executive directors, we’ve increased headcount and established a London office in addition to our beautiful Staffordshire headquarters. We’ve become one of the most followed agencies on Twitter in the UK and have been named in The Drum’s Design 100; a top 100 league table for agencies.

We’re really excited about what our 2012-2013 year will bring as we’re already working on some fantastic campaigns and some groundbreaking technologies. We hope you love our new website and we welcome your comments on it.